NEW POLYMER SYNTHESES .86. POLYIMIDES WITH NONCYCLIC IMIDE GROUPS BY ACYLATION OF N,N'-BISTRIMETHYLSILYLAMINES

Four different N,N'-bistrimethylsilyl aromatic amines were prepared in a two-step procedure. They were polycondensed in bulk with four diffe rent aromatic dicarboxylic acid dichlorides. These polycondensations w ere conducted in bulk in the presence of ZnCl2 as catalyst. Low number -average molecular weights (M(w)'s) below 10 000 g/mol were obtained i n all cases. However, the crude polyimides also possessed extremely br oad molecular weight distributions. All polyimides were amorphous mate rials, but a copolymer containing imidazolidone rings was semicrystall ine. The IR and C-13-NMR spectroscopic properties of the linear imides are compared with those of analogous cyclic imides.